Salford Red Devils ordered to urgently sell stars to fill £800,000 shortfall
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Crisis-torn Salford must undergo a firesale of top talent after being ordered to slash costs by £800,000. The cash-strapped Red Devils are already in enhanced special measures after needing a £500,000 advance of their central distribution from RL Commercial last month.
They are in ongoing talks with potential new investors and hoped a deal would be done in time to prevent a player exodus. But stars such as captain Kallum Watkins, England scrum-half Marc Sneyd and Papua New Guinea centre Kallum Watkins could all now end up being moved on to Super League rivals.
A Salford statement read: “The club has been directed to sell players without delay. “The position is the RFL has issued a sustainability cap of £1.2 million and until we reach that, we are now prohibited from registering players for the upcoming season.
“The terms of receiving the advancement were that the club be placed under ‘special measures’ requiring a reduction in overheads of £800,000. “We were not given a clear timeline for compliance on required expenditure reductions, therefore the club took the decision to hold our position for the short-term while investor negotiations are ongoing.
“During this time, the club has received offers for a number of players, none of whom have been available for sale until today.”. Salford say takeover talks are still “live” but tonight’s news is a hammer blow just four weeks ahead of the new season.
